The Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society is dedicated to the collection, preservation and presentation of the unique history of this area’s unique place in Maine’s History

Our Parish House Museum was built in 1839 as the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was located near the Crocker Quarry, but in 1850 it was moved on to logs and rolled to its present location at 72 Church Street.

For years it was the Fellowship Hall of the Brownville Community Church, a gathering place for the community. In 1996, the Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society purchased the building from the Church and is now home to thousands of artifacts of Brownville's history.

The Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society held its annual meeting on May 14th at the Parish House Museum.

The election of officers retained the same officers from last year:

President & Secretary - Susan Worcester

Vice president - George Dean

Treasurer - Lana Washburn

The crew from the Charleston Correctional Facility is expected to begin the renovation project of the bathroom within the next few weeks. The Society is thankful that the labor for this project will be provided by the Correctional Facility and hopes that this project will provide a handicapped accessible space at the museum.

The big project for the volunteers will be working on the restoration of the scoreboard from Brownville Junction High School. It is hoped that project will be completed - as much as it is possible to do so - by the BJHS Alumni Reunion Weekend in August. George Dean is trying to locate any photos possible that might show just what the scoreboard looked like when the school was opened. If anyone has such information, please contact the Society at brownvillehistorical@trcmaine.org or call Susan at 965-8070.

There was discussion about projects the volunteers hope to complete this summer at the museum; those projects include the documentation of all items and documents in the museum in the PastPerfect program and that work will continue for a long time to come.

Susan Worcester talked about volunteerism. While the number of regular volunteers at the museum is very small, it is a dedicated group and there is never a lack of projects to work on. Susan listed several projects that need to be undertaken should new volunteers appear. Most of these tasks require little skill or training but the current volunteers are willing to train new people for any task they wish to learn. The importance of volunteerism can not be over-emphasized! There are so many organizations that provide worthwhile and necessary work for our small communities and the Historical Society is just one of these. Perhaps you would not be interested in spending a few hours at the museum every week, but if you are only able to take on a short term project that can be worked on at home or completed in a few weeks or a month at the museum, WE NEED YOU! If you would like to become one of the weekly volunteers who “man” the museum on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 2pm every week from mid-June through September, WE NEED YOU! Whatever amount of time, whatever skills you have to offer, whatever part of Brownville and the Junction’s history interests you, WE CAN FIND A PLACE FOR YOU! Please drop in or contact Susan at 965-8070, through email: brownvillehistorical@trcmaine.org.

The museum will open on June 18th this year. There will be two Saturday dates when it will be open: the first Saturday of August - Brownville Community Church’s Old Home Days (from 9am to noon) and August 17th (BJHS Alumni Reunion) from 10am to 12:30pm. The museum is also open by appointment. Contact Susan at 965-8070.

BROWNVILLE — The Brownville-Brownville Junction (B-BJ) Historical Society and Parish House Museum has had another good year!

We have a small number of volunteers who work diligently to keep things moving ahead. That includes keeping the museum open two days a week during the summer and early fall, keeping new acquisitions up to date in our record keeping, inputting information about current items and records in our PastPerfect program, answering inquiries from people who either come in to the museum or email us looking for specific information and organizing what we have to make more information and items accessible to visitors and easier for volunteers to locate. These are just a few of the tasks that we are working on and if you have a few hours to volunteer, your time would be much appreciated. Keep us in mind next summer!

We are continuing to market Ken Hatchette’s book and revised book about the Canadian Pacific Railroad in Brownville Junction. There are fewer than 10 copies of the original manuscript still available; this will not be reprinted. The books are currently available at Simple Sacks in Brownville, The Milo and Points North Visitors’ Center in Milo, and from Susan Worcester 965-8070). Ken will soon be working on new books that will be of interest of people in the area.

At the September society meeting it was decided to have our 2019 meetings in the evenings so that people who work will have the opportunity to attend. It would be our hope to be able to offer short programs in conjunction with each meeting.

If you are a member of the society and received our most recent newsletter you will have read about “Maine’s One-Man Railroad” right here in our area! Very interesting story about Bert Green. And you might have learned a few new facts in our Pop Quiz. Oh, and there is a recipe there for Welsh cookies.

There is also a photo there of the old B&A station in the Junction that most of the volunteers had never seen before and one last look at the old Green Bridge as the work on the new replacement bridge comes to an end.

Worcester will be getting back to interviewing people who live or have lived in town in order to record their stories for the museum files. If you’d be interested in talking, please call 965-8070 or email brownvillehistorical@trcmaine.org .

If you are not a member of the society and would like to be, send $5 annual dues to B-BJ Historical Society, PO Box 794, Brownville ME 04414 along with your name and mailing information and anything else you’d like us to know about you!’

There are a few volunteers who will be working on projects through the winter months and thinking about new projects (or projects not yet finished) for next summer. Among those, we hope, will be a renovation of our bathroom and access to our basement. We will also continue to catalog items and make the museum even more “visitor friendly.”

Thanks to the 60-plus members of the society who help keep us afloat with their dues, donations and volunteer time! All donations are tax deductible.